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Chinese porcelain at old mobile

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Abstract

Chinese porcelain has been found in some quantity at the French colonial town site of Old Mobile. These sherds are of fine quality, and are comparable to pieces found in princely collections in Europe and in the Topkapi Saray Museum in Istanbul. Most are finely painted in underglaze blue, but a few retain traces of overglaze polychrome decoration. French colonies of this period typically did not import large amounts of porcelain. Old Mobile’s proximity to Spanish colonial settlements, however, provided access to Asian porcelain obtained via the Manila galleon trade.

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Shulsky, L.R. Chinese porcelain at old mobile. Hist Arch 36, 97–104 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374341

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